Postdoctoral Fellow - Normativity Lab

Description

Professor Gillian Hadfield is seeking one or more highly-qualified postdoctoral scholars to join her team at the Normativity Lab to investigate the foundations of human normativity and how these insights can inform the development of AI systems aligned with human values. The ideal candidate will have a background in interdisciplinary research and experience integrating social science concepts with computational modelling to explore the dynamics of AI systems and the development of autonomous AI agents. This is a full-time one-year position, with the possibility of extension.

About the Normativity Lab

How can we ensure AI systems and agents align with human values and norms? Maintain and enhance the complex cooperative economic, political and social systems humans have built? What will it take to ensure that the AI transformation puts us on the path to improved human well-being and flourishing, and not catastrophe? Existing approaches to alignment, such as RLHF, constitutional AI and social choice methods, focus on eliciting human preferences, aggregating them across multiple, pluralistic values if necessary, and fine-tuning models to satisfy those preferences. In the Normativity Lab we believe these approaches are likely to prove too limited to address the alignment challenge and that the alignment questions will require studying the foundations of human normativity and human normative systems.  We use economic, political and cultural evolutionary theory together with computational modeling, specifically multi-agent reinforcement learning and generative agent simulations, to explore the dynamics of normative systems and explore how to build AI systems and agents that have the normative infrastructure and normative competence to do as humans have learned to do:  create stable rule-based groups that can adapt to change while ensuring group well-being.

 

Specific Duties and Responsibilities:

· Project Ownership: Take ownership of research projects, working independently and collaboratively with a diverse team of experts

· Model Development: Develop and refine computational models to simulate and analyze normative behaviors in various contexts.

· Data Collection and Analysis: Design and implement empirical studies, including data collection, statistical analysis, and interpretation of results.

· Publication: Prepare and submit manuscripts for publication in high-impact academic journals and present findings at conferences and workshops.

· Collaborate with Team Members: Work closely with lab members and external collaborators to foster a productive research environment and contribute to interdisciplinary projects.

· Mentor Students: Provide guidance and mentorship to graduate and undergraduate students involved in related research projects.

· Contribute to Lab Activities: Participate in lab meetings, potentially take a leadership role in coordinating lab activities, contribute to grant writing, and engage in outreach activities to promote the lab's research initiatives.

Qualifications

· Advanced Degree: A PhD in a relevant field such as computer science, economics, political science or cultural evolution

· Programming Skills: Proficiency in programming languages relevant to computational modeling (e.g., Python, R, or similar).

· Data Analysis Tools: Experience with statistical software and data visualization tools (e.g., SPSS, Stata, Tableau).

· Familiarity with AI Technologies: Knowledge of AI frameworks and algorithms, particularly those related to decision-making and ethical AI.

· Academic Excellence: Strong publication record in peer-reviewed journals relevant to normative systems, AI ethics, or related fields.

· Research Experience: Demonstrated experience conducting independent research, including project development and execution.

· Teaching and Mentorship: Experience in teaching or mentoring undergraduate or graduate students in a research or academic setting.

· Collaboration and Communication: Excellent teamwork skills with the ability to present research findings clearly and effectively to diverse audiences.

Additional skills:

· Ability to independently lead and deliver on research projects

· Capable of formulating and implementing research methodologies and procedures

· Ability to make independent decisions regarding data quality, analysis, and interpretation

· Capable of independently managing timelines and deliverables

 

Applicants with some but not all of these qualifications are encouraged to apply and diversit